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Some thoughts on the celebration of #Newroz / #Nowruz, its influences, and a particular narrative attributed to it by many Kurds: the myth of Kawa the Blacksmith, whose statue in Afrin, Syria you can see here recently surrounded and being taken down by Turkish backed Islamists.

First on Nowruz: the celebration of Nowruz falls on Spring Equinox - many trace its origins wholly in Zoroastrianism as practiced by the Persians and Median cultures. Few however recognize how significant Assyrian-Babylonian influence was on both its practice and derivation.

The Assyrian empire's demise was a political event; it did not preclude custom & tradition etc from persisting in other cultures, empires. Scholar Peter Green notes that Alexander the Great partook in the festival of Akitu upon his arrival in Persepolis, Achaemenid Persia 330 BC.